BANGKOK, May 20: Up to 3,000 people took to the streets of Bangkok on Sunday to protest against Thailand's military junta and call for early elections in the kingdom, organisers and the police said.

The demonstrators, who were rallying against a coup last September, gathered at Sanam Luang plaza in central Bangkok in the early evening before peacefully marching to the Democracy Monument a few kilometres away.

“The demonstration is to show that we do not agree with coup and to kick out the junta,” said one of the rally's organisers, Nattawut Saikuar, who is a supporter of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

He urged the junta to hold elections as early as possible. The military-installed government has promised polls for the end of the year.—AFP